Borna Sosa (; born 21 January 1998) is a Croatian professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

who plays as a

left-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

or a left-wing back for

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of the German football league system, the Bundesliga is Germany's primary footba ...

club

VfB Stuttgart Verein für Bewegungsspiele Stuttgart 1893 e. V., commonly known as VfB Stuttgart (), is a German sports club based in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg. The club's football team is currently part of Germany's first division, the Bundesliga. VfB Stu ...

and the Croatia national team.

Career

Dinamo Zagreb

Sosa was born in the Prečko neighbourhood of

Zagreb Zagreb ( , , , ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slop ...

to Herzegovinian Croat parents from Gradac, near

Posušje Posušje ( cyrl, Посушје, ) is a town and municipality in Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is located in the West Herzegovina Canton, a federal unit of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Name The name Posušje is derived from ''suša'' ...

. He was a youth player for

Dinamo Zagreb Građanski nogometni klub Dinamo Zagreb ( en, Dinamo Zagreb Citizens' Football Club, link=yes, italics=yes), commonly referred to as GNK Dinamo Zagreb or simply Dinamo Zagreb (), is a Croatian professional football club based in Zagreb. Dinamo ...

. He was given his

Prva HNL The Hrvatska nogometna liga () ( en, Croatian football league), also known as HNL or for sponsorship reasons the SuperSport HNL, is the top Croatian professional football league competition, established in 1992. Previously, it was called Prva H ...

debut for Dinamo by coach

Zoran Mamić Zoran Mamić (; born 30 September 1971) is a Croatian professional football manager and former player, and convicted fraudster. He was most recently the manager of Croatian First Football League club Dinamo Zagreb. He is a wanted criminal in C ...

on 7 March 2015 in a 2–0 home win over

, starting and playing the full 90 minutes. On 10 May 2016, he played full 90 minutes in the Croatian Cup Final as Dinamo defeated Slaven Belupo 2–1. He made his European debut on 12 July 2016, when coach

Zlatko Kranjčar Zlatko "Cico" Kranjčar (; 15 November 1956 – 1 March 2021) was a Croatian professional football manager and player. Kranjčar started his career as a player with Dinamo Zagreb where he won the Yugoslav First League in 1981–82, then Yugosl ...

substituted him for

Alexandru Mățel Alexandru Mățel (born 17 October 1989) is a Romanian former professional footballer who played mainly as a right back and currently the team manager of Liga I club Farul Constanța. Club career Early career and Astra He began his career ...

in the 66th minute of the 2–1 victory over

Vardar The Vardar (; mk, , , ) or Axios () is the longest river in North Macedonia and the second longest river in Greece, in which it reaches the Aegean Sea at Thessaloniki. It is long, out of which are in Greece, and drains an area of around . Th ...

Skopje Skopje ( , , ; mk, Скопје ; sq, Shkup) is the capital and largest city of North Macedonia. It is the country's political, cultural, economic, and academic centre. The territory of Skopje has been inhabited since at least 4000 BC; r ...

in the Champions League second qualifying round. Over the course of four seasons at Dinamo, Sosa made 41 appearances and six assists for his hometown club.

VfB Stuttgart

On 14 May 2018, Sosa signed a five-year-contract with

, with effect from 1 July. He made his debut for Stuttgart on 26 August, after being substituted on for

Emiliano Insúa Emiliano Adrián Insúa Zapata (born 7 January 1989) is an Argentine professional footballer who plays as a left-back for Racing Club. Insúa is a citizen of the European Union through one of his grandparents, who is Spanish. Career Early ca ...

in the 84th minute of the 1–0 loss to

Mainz Mainz () is the capital and largest city of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Mainz is on the left bank of the Rhine, opposite to the place that the Main (river), Main joins the Rhine. Downstream of the confluence, the Rhine flows to the north-we ...

. However, due to frequent injuries, Sosa's minutes were significantly reduced in his first season with Stuttgart, which saw the club relegated to the 2. Bundesliga. The injuries continued during his second season as well, resulting in Sosa making only 24 appearances for Stuttgart in his first two seasons. On 16 December 2019, he scored his debut goal for Stuttgart in a 1–1 draw with

Darmstadt Darmstadt () is a city in the States of Germany, state of Hesse in Germany, located in the southern part of the Frankfurt Rhine Main Area, Rhine-Main-Area (Frankfurt Metropolitan Region). Darmstadt has around 160,000 inhabitants, making it th ...

. However, the 2020–21 season was Sosa's breakthrough season, as he found form and consistency in

Pellegrino Matarazzo Pellegrino Matarazzo (born November 28, 1977) is an American professional soccer coach who currently manages TSG 1899 Hoffenheim. He was previously a youth coach of 1. FC Nürnberg and 1899 Hoffenheim. In December 2019, Matarazzo was appointe ...

's 3–4–2–1

formation Formation may refer to: Linguistics * Back-formation, the process of creating a new lexeme by removing or affixes * Word formation, the creation of a new word by adding affixes Mathematics and science * Cave formation or speleothem, a secondar ...

. His performances in the

earned him praise and comparisons to

David Beckham David Robert Joseph Beckham (; born 2 May 1975) is an English former professional footballer, the current president and co-owner of Inter Miami CF and co-owner of Salford City. Known for his range of passing, crossing ability and bending fr ...

, whom he named his football role model alongside

David Alaba David Olatukunbo Alaba (born 24 June 1992) is an Austrian professional footballer who plays as a centre-back or left-back for La Liga club Real Madrid and captains the Austria national team. Alaba started out in Bayern's youth system before b ...

. On 27 November 2020, he extended his contract until 2025. He finished the season with nine assists on his account. At the beginning of the 2021–22 season, on 7 August, Sosa captained Stuttgart for the first time in a

DFB-Pokal The DFB-Pokal ( is a German knockout football cup competition held annually by the German Football Association (DFB). Sixty-four teams participate in the competition, including all clubs from the Bundesliga and the 2. Bundesliga. It is considere ...

match against Dynamo Berlin, scoring and assisting in the 6–0 victory. Seven days later, on the first matchday of

, Sosa provided Marc-Oliver Kempf and Hamadi Al Ghaddioui with a hat-trick of assists as Stuttgart defeated Greuther Fürth 5–1.

International career

Sosa represented

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capit ...

at the 2015 UEFA Under-17 Euro and the

2015 FIFA U-17 World Cup The 2015 FIFA U-17 World Cup was the sixteenth tournament of the FIFA U-17 World Cup, held in Chile from 17 October to 8 November 2015. Host selection The following four countries bid to host the tournament: * * * * Venues Along with proposing ...

. In May 2018, he was named in

Zlatko Dalić Zlatko Dalić (; born 26 October 1966) is a Croatian professional football manager and former player. He is the manager of the Croatia national team since 2017 and led them to a runners-up finish at the 2018 FIFA World Cup and third place at the ...

's preliminary 32-man squad for the

2018 World Cup The 2018 FIFA World Cup was the 21st FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's national football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Russia from 14 June to 15 July 2018, after the country was awarded the hosting righ ...

in Russia, but did not make the final 23. He was named in

Nenad Gračan Nenad Gračan (born 23 January 1962) is a Croatian football manager and former player who played as a midfielder. He is the coach of the Croatia women's national football team. Club career Born in Rijeka, SFR Yugoslavia, Gračan started playin ...

squad In military terminology, a squad is among the smallest of military organizations and is led by a non-commissioned officer. NATO and US doctrine define a squad as an organization "larger than a team, but smaller than a section." while US Army do ...

for the UEFA Under-21 Euro 2019 and

Igor Bišćan Igor Bišćan (; born 4 May 1978) is a Croatian professional football manager and former player who is the manager of the Croatia national under-21 team. In his playing career, he was a versatile player and could play almost every position in th ...

for the UEFA Under-21 Euro 2021. However, he was ruled out of the latter squad at the last minute due to a knee injury. On 7 May 2021, it was reported by ''

Sportske novosti ''Sportske novosti'' () is a Croatian daily sports newspaper based in Zagreb. It was established on 9 August 1945 as ''Ilustrirane fiskulturne novine'' weekly newspaper. Several months later, on 10 December 1945, its name got changed to ''Narodn ...

'' and Sky Sport that Sosa was given

German citizenship German nationality law details the conditions by which an individual holds German nationality. The primary law governing these requirements is the Nationality Act, which came into force on 1 January 1914. Germany is a member state of the Europ ...

, on

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

coach

Joachim Löw Joachim Löw (born 3 February 1960) is a German football coach and former player. He was the manager of the Germany national team from 2006 until 2021. During his tenure as manager, he led Germany to victory at the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil ...

's initiative, through his mother Vesna who was born and raised in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

, and was expected to represent Germany at the

UEFA Euro 2020 The 2020 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2020 (stylised as UEFA EURO 2020) or simply Euro 2020, was the 16th UEFA European Championship, the quadrennial international men's football championship of Europe ...

. A day later, on 8 May, Sosa himself confirmed the information to '' 24sata''. However, on 11 May,

Oliver Bierhoff Oliver Bierhoff (born 1 May 1968) is a German football official and former player who played as a forward. He has previously served as the national team director of the German Football Association. A tall, strong and prolific goalscorer, Bierh ...

, the technical director of the

German Football Association The German Football Association (german: Deutscher Fußball-Bund ; DFB ) is the governing body of football in Germany. A founding member of both FIFA and UEFA, the DFB has jurisdiction for the German football league system and is in charge of t ...

, announced that Sosa is ineligible to play for Germany according to the

FIFA FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...

rules. Two days later, on 13 May, Sosa issued an official apology to the Croatian public, Croatia national team fans and the Croatian Football Federation via the Federation's website. Sosa earned his first call-up to the national team on 16 August 2021, ahead of the September

World Cup qualifiers The FIFA World Cup qualification is a competitive match that a national association football team takes in order to qualify for one of the available berths at the final tournament of the (men's) FIFA World Cup. Qualifying tournaments are hel ...

against

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

Slovakia Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the s ...

and

Slovenia Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, an ...

. He made his debut on 1 September in a goalless draw against Russia, being named in the starting lineup. On 14 November, in the crucial qualifier against the same opponent, Sosa caused

Fyodor Kudryashov Fyodor Vasilievich Kudryashov ( rus, Фёдор Васильевич Кудряшов, p=ˈfʲɵdər vɐˈsʲilʲjɪvʲɪtɕ kʊdrʲɪˈʂof; born 5 April 1987) is a Russian professional footballer who plays for Turkish club Antalyaspor and th ...

own goal An own goal, also called a self goal, is where a player performs actions that result in them or their team scoring a goal on themselves, often resulting in a point for the opposing team, such as when a football player kicks a ball into their own ...

, leading to Croatia's 1–0 victory and qualification for the

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

. On 22 September 2022, he scored his debut goal for the national team in a 2–1 Nations League victory over

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark ...

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list Croatia's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Sosa goal''.

Honours

Dinamo Zagreb *

: 2015–16 , 2017–18 * Croatian Cup: 2015–16 , 2017–18 Croatia *

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament ha ...

third place:

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; 2022 Sri Lankan protests, Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretari ...

Individual * 2015 UEFA European Under-17 Championship Team of the Tournament

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sosa, Borna 1998 births Living people Footballers from Zagreb Naturalized citizens of Germany German people of Croatian descent German people of Bosnia and Herzegovina descent Association football fullbacks Croatian footballers German footballers Croatia youth international footballers Croatia under-21 international footballers Croatia international footballers GNK Dinamo Zagreb players GNK Dinamo Zagreb II players VfB Stuttgart players Croatian Football League players First Football League (Croatia) players Bundesliga players 2. Bundesliga players 2022 FIFA World Cup players Croatian expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Germany Croatian expatriate sportspeople in Germany